From the moment Chesterbrook Academy teacher Tara Gravatt found out she was nominated for an award, it was an emotional experience.

The 23-year-old didn’t know how far it would actually go.

Gravatt shed a few tears when she learned she’d been recommended as the best preschool teacher at her Uwchlan school, as part of an annual contest held by Nobel Learning Communities (NLC), Chesterbrook’s parent organization. That excitement intensified when she discovered she’d reached the regional round, and then came a surprise request from Chesterbrook Principal Casey Shaw.

“She told me I needed to come up front for a conference call, so I was freaking out that they needed to talk to me,” Gravatt said. “Then I get up there and there are some kids who’re now in kindergarten who I’d had, and I was thinking it had to be serious if they wanted to talk to them. Then they handed me the phone and it was the CEO of the company telling me I won, and I lost it.”

Advertisement

What Gravatt won was NLC’s Preschool Teacher of the Year, meaning she was selected out of the group’s pool of more than 180 private schools in 15 states and Washington, D.C.

“It’s such an honor, and it means so much to me to be recognized,” Gravatt said. “I didn’t think I was doing anything special, really. I just did what came natural. It was a big shock.”

Shaw said the award was a testament to Gravatt’s dedication and exuberance.

“She’s just extremely creative, comes up with some really neat lessons and gets just as excited as the kids about the activities she has for them,” Shaw said.

Gravatt’s is a teaching career that almost didn’t happen. Throughout most of her scholastic life, including at Downingtown East High School, Gravatt wanted to be a lawyer. She eventually weighed the time involved, and went to Salisbury University in Maryland to study architecture and interior design. A semester into her freshman year, however, she couldn’t deny her calling.

“I said, ‘I can’t do this. I need to be a teacher. That’s what I love to do,’” Gravatt said. “It’s not work to me, it’s fun. I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else.”

Gravatt had started working with Chesterbrook’s Beginners program in February of 2007, during her senior year of high school. After changing her major, she came back to work on breaks from school. She was drawn to the youngsters from day one.

“The 2-year-olds just fascinate me,” Gravatt said. “They’re little sponges, and everything they hear, they absorb. I really enjoy teaching them and hearing what they learn from them.”

Gravatt herself was in daycare between 6 months and 2 years old. Self-described as needy child, her mom eventually stayed at home with her until she was 5, before she went to preschool and then kindergarten.

Gravatt and her mom both marvel at what her students have learned via her teaching and Chesterbrook’s curriculum.

“They know more Spanish than I learned in high school. They’re geniuses, and it’s cool to know that I taught them that,” Gravatt said. “I talk to my mom about this stuff all the time, and it blows her mind. That and all the feedback I get that most kids this age are not learning this, it gives me the drive that I have, also.”

Like her students, Gravatt’s time at Chesterbrook has been full of learning.

“This is like a teaching-me experience, before I move up to kindergarten or first grade,” Gravatt said. “If it were up to me, I’d teach 2-year-olds for the rest of my life, but eventually I’ll have to move on.”

When that day comes, it won’t be easy.

“I’m with the kids for nine hours Monday through Friday, so I get very close to them,” Gravatt said. “It’s not like they’re my kids, maybe more like my little brothers and sisters. It’s going to be hard, and right now, I can’t actually picture myself doing it. I love them so much.”